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HOUSE 



OF 



JOHN PROCTER, 

Witchcraft Martyr, 1692. 



By Wm. p. upham. 



HOUSB 



OF 



JOHN PROCTER, 



Witchcraft Martyr, 1692. 



By Wm. p. Upham. 



PEABODY: 

PRESS OF C. H. SHEPARD, 

1904. 



475^ 



»c 






U- 



HOUSE OF JOHN PROCTER 

WITCHCRAFT MARTYR, 1692. 



[A paper read by William P. Upham at a meeting of the Peabody Historical 
Society at the Needham house, West Peabody, September 2nd., 1903.] 

It is now nearly forty years since I assisted my father, 
the late Charles W. Upham, in the preparation of his work 
on Salem Village and the Witchcraft tragedy of 1692, by 
collecting what information could be obtained from the 
records as to the people and their homes in that locality. 
In doing this I was enabled to construct a map showing 
the bounds of the grants and farms at that time. On that 
map is represented quite accurately the Downing Farm, so 
called, owned, in 1638, by Emanuel Downing, father of Sir 
George Downing, and occupied as tenant, in 1692, by John 
Procter, the victim of the witchcraft delusion. When I 
made the map I knew that John Procter at his death 
owned, as appears by the inventory of his estate, fifteen 
acres of land in Salem, but I was not able then to locate it 
with exactness. Lately, in making a more complete study 
of the records relating to the Downing farm and the sur- 
rounding lands I have learned the exact situation of the 
fifteen acre lot owned by him, and also that he had a house 
upon it as early as 1682 and until his death in 1692. It 
appears that this lot is the place where he was buried, ac- 
cording to the family tradition, although the knowledge 
as to its being once owned by him seems to have passed 
out of the neighborhood for more than a century. 



This lot is indicated, on the accompanying map of the 
locality which I have drawn for the purpose, by heavy dark 
lines. It was on the north side of lyOwell Street in West 
Peabody, just west of the westernmost line of the Downing 
Farm and about one hundred and fifty rods east from the 
place of this meeting, which is the Needham homestead on 
the Newburyport Turnpike, or Newbury Street as it is now 
called, marked on the map as then, in 1692, the home of 
Anthony Needham, Junior. 

The discovery that this was John Procter's land called 
to mind a conversation I had with Mrs. Jacobs, an aged 
lady who lived in the old Jacobs house, now the Wyman 
place, and of which I made the following memorandum 
about thirty years ago : — 

"Mrs. Jacobs (Munroe) says that it was always said 
that Procters were buried near the bars as you go into the 
Philip H. Saunders place. Mr. James Marsh says he 
always heard that John Procter, of witch time, was buried 
there." 

Upon inquiring lately of Mrs. Osborn, the librarian of 
the Peabody Historical Society, as to what was the family 
tradition, I learned that it was said by Mrs. Hannah B. 
Mansfield, of Danvers, that John Procter was buried 
"opposite to the Colcord " (now the Wyman) "pasture, 
amongst the rocks." In answer to an inquiry by Mrs. 
Osborn, Mrs. Mansfield wrote to her as follows : — " A great 
aunt took me, when a little girl, with her to a spot in a 
rocky hill where she picked blackberries, and said there 
was the place ' among birch trees and rocks where our 
ancestor of witchcraft notoriety was buried.' It was on the 
north side of I^owell Street in what was then called the 
Marsh pasture nearly opposite the Jacobs farm which is on 
the south side of Lowell Street." 

The Marsh pasture from which Mrs. Mansfield's aunt 
pointed out the "birch trees and rocks" near by where 



John Procter was buried was, no doubt, the pasture con- 
veyed by James Marsh to Philip H. Saunders, ii June, 
1863, and then described as " thirteen acres known by the 
name of Bates Pasture." I do not know of any other place 
near there that would be called the Marsh pasture at the 
time Mrs. Mansfield mentions. This thirteen acre pasture 
was conveyed by Ezekiel Marsh to John Marsh, 15 Oct., 
1819, having been devised to him by his father Ezekiel 
Marsh. It had a way leading to it from lyOwell Street over 
the eastern end of the Jolin Procter lot as shown on my 
map. This way is still used as well as the bars opening 
into it on L/Owell Street a few rods east of the westerly way 
leading southerly to the Jacobs, or Wyman, place. These 
are the " bars as you go into the Philip H. Saunders place" 
mentioned by Mrs. Jacobs as stated above, unless we sup- 
pose the expression to mean bars leading from the John 
Procter lot where the way enters the Philip H. Saunders 
place, or Marsh pasture, as Mrs. Mansfield calls it. Per- 
haps the latter locality is the most probable since it is high 
rocky ground ; but which bars were meant is uncertain. 

Mr. Daniel H. Felton, who has an intimate knowledge 
of the history of all the lands about Felton's Hill, and is 
himself a descendant of John Procter, informs me that 
Mrs. Hannah B. Mansfield some years since related to him 
*' that she went bnrying at the Jacobs farm when she was 
a child and that older persons said that John Procter was 
buried on the opposite side of the way (among the rocks) 
from where they turned off from IvOwell Street to go to the 
Jacobs farm." Mrs. Mansfield lived when a child on the 
Newburyport Turnpike opposite the Needham homestead. 
It was, I understand, her "aunt Betsey Gardner" who, 
when picking blackberries " on a rocky hill " pointed out 
to her the place "among birch trees and rocks" whdre 
John Procter was buried. 

To reconcile these traditions with the known facts, we 



may suppose, as related by Mrs. Jacobs and Mrs. Mans- 
field, that the place of burial was pointed out to them from 
the high land on the Jacobs place south of Lowell Street, 
where the "rocky hill" and the bars leading into the 
Marsh pasture on the north side of Lowell Street could be 
plainly seen. Subsequently Mrs. Mansfield's aunt took 
her to the rocky hill itself and pointed out the exact spot, 
probably close to where the bars lead into the Marsh pas- 
ture, now the Saunders place. In going home from the 
Jacobs farm they would turn into Lowell Street at the old 
way near the house marked "White" on my map, and 
some ten rods westerly from the way above mentioned lead- 
ing from the opposite side of Lowell Street to the Saunders 
place. This way from the Jacobs place is a very old way. 
Mr. Felton tells me : "I recollect that my father said over 
forty years ago that the gate posts of locust were nearly 
one hundred years old then." 

Two hundred years ago the Saunders place, formerly the 
Marsh pasture, was part of the large tract of homestead 
land owned by Anthony Needham. This Needham land 
included eight acres of land conveyed by Anthony Need- 
ham to his son-in-law, Thomas Gould, 26 Sept., 1705, and 
conveyed to Thomas Gardner 27 Jan., 1743, by George 
Gould, the son of Thomas Gould. The eight acre lot 
descended to John Gardner and from him to John Gardner 
Walcott, and is where John G. Walcott, Jun., now lives. 

The land which I find to be identical with the fifteen 
acre lot owned by John Procter is on the north side of 
Lowell Street between the above mentioned eight acre lot, 
now the home of John G. Walcott, Jun., and the lot 
marked " Flint Pasture" on my map, the Procter lot being 
enclosed by heavy black lines. The westerly part of the 
Flint Pasture was conveyed, 17 Sept., 1898, to John D. 
Dennis, who lives there now. 

The uniform family tradition that John Procter was 



buried in the locality I have thus described, is confirmed 
in my mind from a consideration of certain facts, bearing 
with more or less definiteness upon the question, which I 
will endeavor briefly to recite. 

It iS' well known that the victims executed as witches on 
Gallows Hill in Salem, in 1692, were thrown into mere 
shallow graves or crevices in the ledge under the gallows, 
where the nature of the ground did not allow complete 
burial, so that it was stated at the time that portions of the 
bodies were hardly covered at all. It was natural that the 
relatives of those thus cruelly put to death and left prac- 
tically without burial, should, where they were able and 
courageous enough for the dangerous undertaking, remove 
the bodies to their homes for interment. It is the tradition 
that this was done in several cases, secretly and during the 
night, that it might not incur the opposition of the frenzied 
and deluded people. This removal was made by the chil- 
dren of Rebecca Nourse, and a beautiful monument now 
marks the spot to which her body was removed. There is 
a similar tradition in the Procter family, and there is good 
reason to believe that his body was removed in a similar 
manner. But if so, the necessary secrecy with which the 
sad duty was performed has caused the place where he was 
buried to be known only by the slender thread of tradition 
which I have mentioned. 

The boulder inscribed to the memory of John Procter, 
which was dedicated this past year at the junction of lyOwell 
and Summit Streets in Peabody, must be considered to 
have been placed there not as indicating the locality of his 
burial, but because that was the most suitable and avail- 
able ground in the near neighborhood of the house where 
for so many years and at the time of his death he lived as 
the tenant of the great Downing Farm. There was the 
entrance to the Farm from Salem, and from that spot one 
obtains a full view of the farm house where he lived. 



believed to be in part still standing on the same site, and of 
the fine and far extending tillage land which probably first 
attracted the admiration of Emanuel Downing two hundred 
and seventy years ago, and is now found so attractive and 
admirably suited to the purposes of a golf ground by the 
Salem Country Club. 

What is now known as the Procter Tomb on the north 
side of lyowell Street at the southeastern corner of the 
Downing Farm is of modern origin. We cannot believe 
that John Procter's family would have deposited his body 
in ground to which they then had no title except as tenants. 
At the time of the imprisonment of John Procter and his 
wife Elizabeth the family was no doubt broken up and the 
house stripped of everything that could be taken away to 
pay the fees of arrest and imprisonment. The great farm 
was no longer their home and they were not again in a 
position to return to and occupy it as their own until nearly 
a decade had passed, when, through the efforts of Thorn- 
dike, one of the sons of John Procter, the Downing Farm 
in its entirety was purchased from Charles, the grandson 
of Emanuel Downing and son of Sir George Downing, then 
deceased. 

At the time of his death in 1692 John Procter owned, 
except what land in Ipswich he may have inherited from 
his father, only the fifteen acres with a house upon it, 
which, as I have said, was just west of the Downing Farm 
on the north side of Lowell Street. This fact alone would 
render it entirely probable that when the body was re- 
moved, in 1692, it would be carried to this place. In fact, 
in view of the peculiar circumstances of the necessity of 
secrecy and the otherwise homeless condition of the family, 
no other place would have been chosen. 

And now that direct tradition of the descendants, inde- 
pendently of any knowledge that John Procter owned this 
land, confirms this view by so remarkably agreeing with 



long forgotten records as to the locality, it may be said 
confidently that we know with reasonable certainty the 
spot where these revered and honored relics were laid so 
long ago. The "bars as you go into the Philip H. Saun- 
ders place" are still there, and the way through is still 
used and marks the place where in 1708 John Higginson 3d 
and Hannah wife, in conveying to Daniel and Lawrence 
Southwick the nine acre lot next east of Procter's lot, re- 
served the liberty of a "highway of one pole wide at the 
western end of said land to be for ye use of Anthony Need- 
ham Sen," "they to maintain a pair of sufficient bars next 
ye common highway so long as they use the same." 

Anthony Needham, Sen., at that time owned what has 
recently been known as the Philip H. Saunders place, and 
this right of way was for the benefit of that place. Mr. 
Dennis now lives at the westerly end of the nine acre lot 
conveyed by Higginson, as above mentioned, which was 
long known as the "Flint Pasture." The bars and the 
way are now on the west side of the wall dividing the Den- 
nis land from the Procter lot instead of being on the east 
side ; indicating that the dividing line was at some time 
changed. This change may have been made without any 
evidence of it appearing on record, by Zachariah King, 
who owned both lots from 1811 till 1818; and this would 
account for the apparent change in size of the two lots as 
described in the deeds, the westerly (or Procter) lot in- 
creasing while the easterly lot decreased. 

On the north side of Lowell Street, about half way be- 
tween these bars and the John G. Walcott, Jun. , house, is 
a well on the edge of the road against a steep rocky hill 
rising back of it. This, I understand, has sometimes been 
called the " Procter well." There seems to be no room for 
a house close by it on that side of the road, but it is pos- 
sible that the road may anciently have turned more to the 
south at this point, though I have not found any evidence 
in the records to that effect. 



16 

The history of the John Procter house and fifteen acres 
of land, as derived from the records, may be briefly stated 
as follows : — 

Before we can understand the meaning of the deeds of 
the Procter lot we must know something of the history of 
the Downing Farm and particularly of the nine acre lot 
known formerly as the Flint Pasture, which is the large 
area of cleared land on the north side of lyOwell Street, on 
the west end of which is at present the house of Mr. Dennis. 
That this may be better understood at a glance I have 
marked on my sketch, by a broken line, the bounds of the 
Downing Farm, which included the " Flint Pasture." 

It seems that about two hundred and seventy years ago 
Roger Morey, a companion and it is thought a relative or 
connection of Roger Williams, had a grant of forty or fifty 
acres, which was located to the west or southwest of a large 
tract granted to Robert Cole and sold to Emanuel Downing 
before 1638. The Roger Morey grant was on both sides of 
what is now Lowell Street, that part on the northerly side 
being the same nine or ten acres above mentioned as after- 
wards known by the name of the Flint Pasture. 

In a deposition by Nathaniel Felton Sept. 18, 1700, he 
being then 85 years of age, he says: "Soon after Roger 
Morrey removed from Salem, which was before 1644, I, this 
deponent, heard that said Morrey had sold his land in the 
woods to Emanuel Downing and I do further testify [as to?] 
a parcel of swamp or upland & meadow being a part and 
belonging to ye said Morrey, and [it] lyeth at the westerly 
end of Mr. Downing's farm" — deponent "has lived about 
55 years a near neighbor to said farm and never heard that 
said Morrey's land was claimed by anybody but the tenants 
living on Mr. Downing's farm." [Reg'y of Deeds, Salem, 
B. 15, Fol. 5.] Fortunately for the identification of this 
land, a most remarkable bound often referred to in the an- 
cient deeds is still to be seen marking the exact northeast- 



xt 



erly corner of the Morey grant. It is a high and precipitous 
rock about twenty rods northerly from L,owell street just 
opposite the house on the south side which was formerly 
the house of Nathaniel Flint, and a few rods westerly from 
the easterly way leading southerly to the Wyman Farm. 
It forms the northeasterly corner bound of the " Flint Pas- 
ture," and is marked on my sketch " Morey's Bound," that 
being the name given to it in the numerous ancient deeds 
and depositions. 

The return of the settlement of the northwesterly bounds 
of the Downing Farm in 1681, recorded in Salem town 
records, gives the line from the extreme northwestern cor- 
ner by Putnam's land as running "strait on to a white oak 
called Morey's Bound." 

In a controversy which seems to have existed in 1685 
and in 1690 between Anthony Needham and the owners of 
land adjoining his, presumably the owners of the Downing 
Farm, Nathaniel Felton testifies that "about 30 years 
since" (that is about 1660) "Mr. Thomas Gardner and 
Jeffry Massey (who by virtue of a grant of 200 acres due 
unto Mr. Bacon*) when they went to lay out the said 200 
acres I this deponent went with them, where cominge upon 
the land neere adjoyning to the farm called Mr. Downings 
farme, the first bound they made of the said two hundred 
acres was upon a hill being as I conceive about 20 rods on 
the north side of the highwayt leading up to Joseph Pope's 
farme, and was a white oak sufficiently marked, ye which 
white oak the surveyors affirmed was the northeast corner 
bounds of [Moreys]* far m, from thence they went upon a 

*There are depositions recorded in Essex Reg'y, B. 11, Fol. 186-9, 
by which it appears that Rebecca, wife of William Bacon, was a 
daughter of Thomas Potter, Es<i., and that her brother, Humphrey 
Potter, was the father of Ann Potter, afterwards the wife of Anthony 
Needham. 

t Now Lowell Street. 

t In the record it is Massey, evidently a mistake, as shown by Marsh's 
deposition, next given. 



straight line westward to another white oak which was 
marked also upon four sides, and stood neer about 20 rods 
to the northward of ye said highway which the said sur- 
veyors affirmed to be the northwest corner bounds of the 
said [Morey's] farme, and it also was the northeast corner 
bounds of John Marsh his farme, which did joyne to ye 
[Morey] farme ; and I doe further testifie that John Marsh 
shewed me the said white oake and affirmed it to be the 
northeast corner bound of his land and the northwest cor- 
ner bound of [Morey's] land." 

In 1685 Zachariah Marsh testifies that "about 25 years 
since my father John Marsh, desirous I should know the 
bounds of his farme took me along with him, and he then 
shewed me all the four corner bounds belonging to his 
farme, and this I doe testifie that he shewed me a white 
oake sufficiently marked standing about 20 rods northward 
of the highway leading up to Joseph Pope's by a little 
swamp the which oake my father affirmed was the north- 
east corner bounds of his farme, and that it was also the 
northwest corner bounds of Roger More's farme ; and fur- 
ther I doe testifie that when we run the line Anthony 
Needham being present owned the said white oake to be 
the corner bounds of my father's farme, and this is the 
bounds in controversy and 3'^e same that Nath. Felton 
attested unto, and hath ever been reputed so to be, no man 
that ever I know having questioned it, till of late Anthony 
Needham." This deposition was again sworn to in 1690. 
See Reg'y of Deeds at Salem, Book 8, F. 181. 

This controversy was probably between Anthony Need- 
ham and John Procter as tenant of the Downing Farm, as 
appears by an action at the Salem Court, Nov., 1685, for 
damage done to John Procter in claiming " land belonging 
to the plaintiff as being in possession of, and hiring the 
said land of the Worshipful Symon Bradstreet Esq.," said 
land being part of a farm " formerly belonging to Mr. 



13 

Emanuel Downing " — Bradstreet married the daughter of 
Downing. 

The bounds described in these depositions are those of 
the " Flint pasture" and have remained substantially un- 
changed to the present day, as is evident to the eye, for, in 
passing along lyowell Street one can see plainly the old 
and venerable looking stone wall beginning at " Morey's 
Bound " on the top of the high rock and running along in 
a westerly direction at about twenty rods distance northerly 
from the street. In the deed of the Downing Farm to 
Thorndike Procter 13 Sept., 1700, the two bounds testified 
to by Feltou and by Marsh are mentioned as follows: — the 
line of the Downing Farm running from the northwest cor- 
ner bound " southwestward unto a white oak tree standing 
on the Rocks, and from thence northwestward unto a 
swamp white oak stump standing about 20 poles on the 
northerly side of the way leading to Anthony Needhams " 
etc. In the deed by Thorndike Procter to his brother 
Benjamin, in 1701, of that portion of the Downing Farm 
now owned by Daniel Brown, the Morey bound is de- 
scribed as "a dead white oak Bound Tree standing on the 
Rocks." 

The portion of the Downing Farm marked on my sketch 
as the Flint Pasture, being about nine or ten acres, was 
conveyed with other portions by Thorndike Procter to 
Samuel Marble, in 1701, the two bounds above mentioned 
being described in the same words. Samuel Marble the 
next year conveyed the same to Samuel Gardner. Han- 
nah, the wife of John Higginson 3d, mentioned above as 
conveyingthis lotto the Southwicks in 1708, was a daughter 
of Samuel Gardner. Daniel Southwick, Jr., conveyed the 
same to Jonathan Flint in 1729 and he conveyed it to John 
Jacobs in 1738. John Jacobs left it by will to his son 
Daniel, who conveyed it to Zachariah King in 1775. By 
him it was divided between his daughters Desire Procter 



i4 

and Mary Upton, in 1818, and its history is thus brought 
within the knowledge of those now living. 

West of this Flint Pasture was the Procter fifteen acre 
lot, the description of which in the deeds and depositions 
we can now understand. How John Procter became owner 
of this fifteen acre lot does not appear upon record, but as 
John Marsh appears, by the depositions of Nathaniel Felton 
and Zachariah Marsh given above, to have been the owner 
there originally, we may conjecture that the title came from 
him by some unrecorded deed or otherwise. 

The following deed, dated 5 Nov., 1681, and recorded 
Book 6, Fol. 48, may throw some light on this question, as 
it apparently convej^s the eight acre lot which, as above 
mentioned, was conveyed by Anthony Needham to his son- 
in-law Thomas Gould, in 1705, where John G. Walcott, 
Jun., now lives. 

Joseph Procter of Ipswich conveys to Anthony Needham 
of Salem " a certain tract of land being the third part of 
twenty three acres of land (formerly the land of John 
Herod) lying and being in ye towne of Salem aforesaid, 
the said twenty three acres of land being bounded on ye 
northerly side with ye land of ye said Needham, on ye 
south with ye highway, on ye west with ye land of ye said 
Anthony Needham, and on ye east with ye land now in ye 
occupation of John Procter" 

Supposing this third part of the twenty-three acres to 
have been the eight-acre lot referred to above, being the 
only locality that would agree with the description, the 
land in the " occupation of John Procter" on the east side 
of the whole "twenty three acres" would be the "Flint 
Pasture," part of the Downing Farm, which was then, in 
1681, in the occupation of John Procter, as tenant. It is 
therefore quite probable that the " fifteen acre " lot which 
John Procter owned was the other two thirds part of the 
"twenty three acres," and that he became possessed of it 



in the same way that his brother, Joseph Procter, became 
possessed of the third part, perhaps in the division of an 
estate. What the estate was may be ascertained by future 
investigation. 

The first we know positively of the lot in question as 
being John Procter's is through the record of an action 
which he brought at the County Court, in 1685, against 
Steven Fish for nine pounds ten shillings due for rent. 
Procter was nonsuited. Fish at the same time sued Procter 
for non delivery of land hired of him by lease March ist, 
1681, (1681-2). The jury found for a delivery of the land 
according to the lease. 

In 1689 John Procter " for my love and parental affection 
unto my beloved wife Elizabeth Procter and all her chil- 
dren " conveys to certain trustees for their benefit " all my 
estate for their supply and maintenance and make over 
and give to them my house and land lying in Salem bounds 
containing fifteen acres, more or less, bounded with ye land 
of Anthony Needham northwest and east southerly* and 
south and west with ye common road or highway in part 
and partly alsoe with land of John Marsh and some land 
of Thomas Gardner Sen. that comes within the highway." 
The last words in this description are puzzling and perhaps 
indicate that the road at the westerly end of the lot ran 
further to the south than it does to-day. 

The next information is obtained from a deposition by 
Anthony Needham, Thomas Gould and Isaac Needham, 
in 1730, taken 'Hn perpetuam rei memoriani'^ and recorded 
in the Registry, Book 54, Leaf 246, as follows : — They tes- 
tify that " they very well knew that Mr. John Procter late 
of Salem, deceased, possessed in his own right for several 
years before and untill ninety twot a certain tract of land 

* This probably refers to the way which Needham liad to his laud 
over the western eud of the lot lying uext east of the Procter lot. 

t 1692. 



i6 

situate in Salem aforesaid containing about 15 acres, butting 
easterl}^ on land now in ye possession of Jonathan Flint, 
southerly and southwesterly on the highway leading to 
Joseph Popes,* northwesterly and northerly on land of the 
deponent Thomas Gould and northeasterly on land of 
Thomas Needham. That the said John Procter had a 
house upon the abovesaid land which he leased to one 
Stephen Fisht since let to one lyincoln and to one Bates, 
who improved it under and in right of the said John Proc- 
ter. That Benjamin Procter son of the said John Procter 
possessed and improved ye above described parcel of land 
from the year 1692 untill his decease which happened about 
fourteen years since. That Mary the widow of said Ben- 
jamin Procter and her son John Procter have possessed 
and improved the same right from the time of his decease 
untill this day." The deposition is dated Jan. 7, 1730. 
The name of "Bates pasture" applied to the Philip H. 
Saunders place in the deed from Marsh, in 1863, suggests 
the thought that it may have been derived from the Bates 
mentioned in the deposition as one of the tenants of the 
John Procter house. 

It only remains to trace the title of the John Procter lot 
to the present time. It appears from various deeds and 
other records that the title descended from John Procter to 
his son Benjamin, and then to his son John, the grandson 
of the first named John Procter. From him it passed to 
his son Benjamin, and then to this Benjamin's sons, James 
and Francis Procter. Francis gave a deed of it to James 
April 19, 1802. Desire Procter, widow and administratrix 
of James Procter, conveyed it to Zachariah King Aug. 9, 
1811, describing it as "a certain piece of land called the 
upper pasture situate in said Danvers containing sixteen 
acres, be the same more or less, and is bounded as follows, 

* Now Lowell Street. 

t See, above, the suit against Fish for rent. 



n 

viz. — southerly on the highway, northwesterly and north- 
erly on land of John Gardner, Jr., northeasterly on land of 
Ezekiel Marsh, and southeasterly on land of the said Zach- 
ariah King to the bound first mentioned." Zachariah 
King conveyed the same to his daughter, Desire Procter of 
Danvers, widow, Feb. i8, 1818. 

From Desire Procter the title descended to Rebecca P. 
Osborne, her granddaughter, and others who, in 1889, con- 
veyed the lot to Harriet A. Walcott, wife of John G. Wal- 
cott, the description being as follows : — " a parcel of land 
in that part of Peabody called West Peabody, containing 
about seventeen acres and two fourths and formerly called 
the Upper Pasture, bounded southwesterly by Lowell Street 
about ninety two rods and eleven links, northwesterly by 
land of Walcott, formerly of John Gardner, about thirty 
eight rods, northeasterly by land of Walcott, formerly of 
Gardner, and by land of Philip Marsh, formerly of Ezekiel 
Marsh, about seventy six rods and nineteen links, south- 
easterly by other land of the grantors, formerly of Zach- 
ariah King, about seventeen rods and fourteen links." 

John G. Walcott and Harriet A. Walcott, wife, conveyed 
the same to Mary E. Collins, wife of William F. M. Collins, 
by deed dated June 27, 1898. 



INDEX. 



Bacon, Rebecca, 






11 


" William, . 






TI 


Bates, , 






16 


Bates pasture, 




5. 


16 


Bradstreet, Symon, . . 




12, 


13 


Brown, Daniel, 






13 


Burial in shallow graves, 






7 


" removal of bodies for. 






7 


Colcord place (now Wymau), 






4 


Cole, Robert, 






10 


Collins, Mary E., 






17 


William F. M. . 






17 


Danvers, Mrs. H. B. Mansfield of. 






4 


" land in, . 






16 


" Desire Procter of, . 






17 


Dennis, John D. . 


6 


1 9. 


10 


Downing, Charles, 






8 


" Emanuel, . . 3 


,s. 


10, 


13 


" George, Sir, 




3 


,8 


Downing Farm, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 


12, 


13, 


14 


Felton, Daniel H., 




5 


, 6 


" Nathaniel, . 10, 


II, 


12, 


14 


Felton's Hill, . 






5 


Fish, Steven or Stephen, . 




15, 


16 


Flint, Jonathan, 




13. 


16 


" Nathaniel, . 






II 


Flint pasture, . . 6, 9, 10 


II 


13, 


14 


Gallows Hill, Salem, 






7 


Gardner, Betsey, 






5 


" Hannah (married Higginson), 




13 


" John, . 




6, 


17 


" John, Jr., 






17 


" Samuel, 






13 


" Thomas, . 


6, 


II. 


15 


Gould, George, . 






6 


" Thomas, . . 6, 


14. 


15. 


16 


Herod, John, 






14 


Higginson, Hannah (daughter of 


Samue 




Gardner), 




9, 


13 


" John, 3d., 




9. 


13 



Ipswich, land in, owned by John Procter, 8 

Jacobs, , Mrs., account of the Procter 

tradition, . . . 4, 5 

" Daniel, . . . -13 

" John, .... 13 

Jacobs house and farm (now Wyman), 4, 5, 6 

King, Zachariah, . . 9, 13, 16, 17 

Lincoln, , .... 16 

Lowell Street, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17 
Mansfield, Hannah B., account of the Proc- 
ter tradition, . . . 4. 5, 6 
Marble, Samuel, ... 13 
Marsh, Ezekiel, . . . 5, 17 
" James, account of the Procter tra- 
dition, . . . 4, 5, 6 
" James, "to Philip H. Saunders, 5, 16 
" John, . . .5, It, 14, 15 
Philip, ... 17 
" Zachariah, . . 12, 14 
Marsh pasture, . . . 4, 5, 6 
Massey, Jeffrey, . . . .11 
Morey (or Morrey, More), Roger, 10, 11, 12 
Morey's Bound, , . . n, 13 
Munroe, , Mrs. Jacobs (Munroe) men- 
tioned, .... 4 
Needham, Ann, wife of Anthony (formerly 
Potter), . . .11 
" Anthony, Sen., 6, g, 11, 12, 14, 15 
" Anthony, Jun., . . 4 
" Isaac, . . . .15 
" Thomas, ... 16 
Needham Homestead, . . 3, 4, 5 
Newburyport Turnpike (or Newbury Street) 5 
Nourse, Rebecca, monument to, . 7 
Osborn, Elizabeth C, Mrs., Librarian of 

Peabody Hist. Soc, . . .4 

Osborne, Rebecca P., ... 17 

Peabody, . . . . 7, 17 

Peabody Historical Society, . . 3, 4 

Pope, Joseph, . . . 11, 12, 16 



INDEX. 



Potter, Ann, . . . . ii 

" Humphrey, . . .11 

" Thomas, . . . 11 

Procter, Benjamin, . . 13, 16 

" Desire, . . 13, 16, 17 

" Elizabeth, imprisonment of, 8, 15 
" Francis, . . . .16 

" James, ... 16 

" John, tenant of Downing Farm, 

3. 12. 14 
" " house and land of, in Salem, 

3, 4, 5,6,9, 10, 14, 15, 16 
" " land of, in Ipswich and Salem, 8 

" " place of burial of, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 

" " monument in memory of, 7 

" " imprisonment of, . 8 

" " Thorndike Procter, son of, 8 

" " Daniel H. Felton, descendant 

of, . . . .5 

" John, grandson of John, . 16 

" Joseph, ... 14, 15 

" Mary, widow of Benjamin, . 16 

" Thorndike, son of John, . 8, 13 



Procter Tomb, 


8 


Procter Well, 


9 


Putnam, , land of. 


II 


Salem, . . 3, 7. 10, 


I, 12, 14, 15, 16 


Salem Country Club, . 


8 


Salem Court, . 


12 


Salem Village, . 


3 


Saunders, Philip H., 


4, 5, 6, 9, 16 


Southwick, Daniel, 


9. 13 


" Lawrence, 


• 9. 13 


Summit Street, in Peabody, 


7 


Upham, Charles W., 


3 


Upton, Mary, . 


14 


Walcott, Harriet A., 


• 17 


" John Gardner, 


• 6,17 


" " " Jun. 


6, 9, 14 


West Peabody, 


• 3,4. 17 


White, , house of. 


6 


Williams, Roger, 


10 


Witchcraft tragedy. 


3 


Wyman, , house and farm 


of, (formerly 


of Jacobs), 


• 4.5. II 



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